Bombay

The Bombay was created in the 1950s by the late Nikki Horner, an American breeder who wanted to develop a cat that possessed the conformation of the Burmese but with a sleek black coat and copper eyes instead of brown fur and yellow eyes, sort of a pint-sized panther. She named the breed after Bombay, India, land of the black leopard. She first attempted to breed a female Burmese to a black American Shorthair. The results were disappointing; they looked more like poor American Shorthairs than anything else.

For her second try Horner chose her breeders and cats more carefully. She shopped around until she found a black American Shorthair male that had the rich eye color she wanted and bred him to one of her best Champion Burmese. After much trial and error, Horner finally produced the results she was looking for: a cat with the conformation and short polished coat of the Burmese, and the American Shorthair's copper-colored eyes and black color.

Creating a breed, even one as striking as the Bombay, doesn't mean cat fancy acceptance, however. Horner found that the Burmese breeders and the cat associations weren't overly willing to accept her new kid on the block. Since the breed had not been accepted for Championship, Horner had no Champion cats with which to catch the attention of the cat-acquiring public.

It wasn't until 1970 that the breed was accepted for registration by the CFA. Advancing from registration to provisional status meant Horner had to form at least one breed club and register 100 examples of the breed. Eighteen years after Horner began her efforts, the breed gained eligibility to compete in the Championship classes on May 1, 1976. While still currently rare (in 1996, the CFA registered only 91), the breed has a dedicated following.